Sunday, February 14, 2010

Four weeks ago Andrew convinced me to change my basing from four figures per base to eight. And from playing larger Corps size games to smaller Brigade or Divisional size games. So I have been busy down sizing my Spanish Army into units of 32 figures (from 17 Battalions to eight battalions). I have to admit I have been wanting to do this for years and was always overawed with painting battalions of 36 figures or more. However when I looked back onto the Army I had created, in the vicinity of 20 x units of 16 figures, I realised that I had done it anyway. So all that was left was to pull the figures of the old and place them on the new. The first battalion off the block is Regiment De Zamora of General De La Romana's division of 1808. I have based then up on a lighter painted base so to try and get the troops marching to battle on a hot summers day, where the grass is dry and the soil dusty. Not sure if it is the right look, so I might throw a few more tufts of green grass on as well. I will place the other units up as I go.

Friday, February 12, 2010

The last images for the night are from Leroy's' latest commissioned work. The Prussian gun battery has been painted for a good friend, Jeff Smith, an other gamer from Townsville who has just started getting into Napoleonic gaming. Jeff's Prussian Army is based on 1815 period and I believe will be mostly Caple Miniatures with a few Elite Miniature Landwehr Infantry mixed in. Should be a nice Army. I have talked Leroy into taking images of all his work just so we can all enjoy his fine painting style.

The next lot of images are again from Leroy Simpson's collection. He has three units of Korean Heavy Cavalry so far painted up. Not sure if that would be enough to take on the Samurai? just have wait and see I guess. All the figures have been painted by Leroy and are Perry Miniatures. The mix of codes are KOR2, KOR10, KOR11, and KOR12.

Sweet Mother of God - Leroy Simpson has just sent through some more images of his latest painting. These guys are Choson Korean Army Guerrilla Archers designed by Micheal and Allen Perry. I saw them before I left Townsville but at that stage they had not been painted. Leroy has done a great job though. They are based up for WAB and maybe when the Divined Wind supplement comes out he might get to used them. But at the moment he is busy painting up both sides. The code for the archers is KOR19 and the command is KOR3.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

OK be prepared to get some quick playing Napoleonics into you. During the last few weeks I have been having the pleasure of staying at Andrew Parr's place.....and during that time we have been play testing the latest version of Andrew's 'Fortune & Glory' rules. As I have mentioned before in other posts Andrew has been mastering a great set of quick play Napoleonic rules. The game, as you can see from the images above and below, has been designed to play on your kitchen table and you only require four or five units of infantry, a couple of regiments of cavalry and a battery of guns to get you started. The general concept is that you have units made up of four bases a piece and artillery of two guns. The number of figures and size of the bases is not a problem as long as the opposition is based much the same. So if you have the massive 32/36 figure battalions you should still be able to have a game. But maybe on a 6x4ft table. The set up of the game starts with the choosing of Armies followed by the placing of terrain and rolling for the scenario. Once all of that is done the army character is chosen. Then in to the game you go. Each game only really lasts for 2 hours and with each game a result is achieved without too much trouble. I don't think it will be much longer before Andrew puts in the final tweaking of the rules and then hopefully they will be ready to go out to the world. But if you need a copy of the latest update drop me an email.

The dinning room table makes for the perfect battleground.

With the Army General leading Spanish troops push forward to take a village from the French.

The attack goes in. Figures are Elite Miniatures painted by Andrew as Spanish.

From another angle'

Elite Miniatures French, painted as Italians.

Elite Miniatures again, this time painted up as Swiss (Leroy Simpson's painting).

Same unit.

A battery of guns with a caisson behind. This is an extra you can purchases for your Army. It gives you a re-roll once through out the game then is removed.

Friday, February 5, 2010

This game was by far the best demo game that I saw at CANON. I'm not sure if there were others on the other days but this one caught the most attention on the day. The figures I think are the 40mm Slash & Saber range. Rules played were Black Powder rules.

I have just thrown up a few images I managed to snap in the few hours I had at CANCON. It looked like a great little demo game on the Battle of the Alamo,which I think was put on by one of the clubs in Canberra? Not to sure of the outcome but it looks to be in the Mexicans' favour.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

CANCON 2010, what a show! This is Australia's premier wargaming convention with a few thousand visitors and hundreds of competition gamers converging on the one venue for three days over the Australia Day long weekend. Myself and Andrew Parr only managed to dropped in for the one day, as it takes about three hours to drive from Sydney. This makes for a long day when you have to come back that night but it was great to catch up with other gamers and retailers you have not seen for a few years. We did not spend to much money which is good for myself and Andrew I think we only sent about $100 between us......pretty poor by some standards. But anyway I did manage to take a few snaps of the great demo games which I will place up soon. The best two demos by far were the Battle of the Alamo and a 40mm AWI game. Any enjoy the images and I will get the others up soon.

Flames of War was one of the star competitions of the weekend with about 40 tables been played.